2018–19 NCAA football bowl games
The 2018–19 NCAA football bowl games were a series of college football bowl games completing the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The games began on December 15, 2018, and, aside from the all-star games that follow, ended with the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship, which was played on January 7, 2019.
| 2018–19 NCAA football bowl games | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Season | 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Regular season | August 25, 2018 – December 8, 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of bowls | 41 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| All-star games | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowl games | December 15, 2018 – January 7, 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National Championship | 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location of Championship | Levi's Stadium Santa Clara, CA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Champions | Clemson Tigers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowl Challenge Cup winner | Conference USA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The total of 40 team-competitive bowls in FBS, including the national championship game, was unchanged from the previous year. To fill the 78 available bowl slots, a total of 10 teams (13% of all participants) with non-winning records (6–6) were invited to bowl games. This was the second consecutive year, and only the third time in eight years, that no teams with losing seasons (6–7 or 5–7) were invited to fill available bowl berths.
Only 39 of the 40 bowls were played, with the First Responder Bowl becoming the first ever postseason game at the FBS-level (or its predecessors) to be cancelled, as a severe lightning storm lingered for over two hours near the Cotton Bowl Stadium. The game was scored as a no-contest for the teams involved.
The three all-star games were the East–West Shrine Game and NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, played on January 19, and the Senior Bowl, played on January 26.